Heather Lyon

Recent Posts

If you're sitting around today, feeling stuffed with turkey and mashed potatoes, the last thing on your mind might be getting into shape. That's OK, because today we're talking about getting your head in the game. (There will be no mention of pushups or burpees.)

So relax, watch a football game, read this post and perhaps ponder the lessons that sports psychology can offer to everyday Joes like us.

You need to conduct a meeting, but nobody's in the same location. You've got a client that's in one time zone, and your marketing director is in another. You've got a sick kid at home, but the meeting must go on. Virtual meeting platforms make it possible to meet without meeting face-to-face, and as non-traditional office culture gains traction, it's quickly become one of the most popular ways to conduct business.

Much like Santa Claus, we here at SpinWeb depend heavily upon lists. They help us ensure that nothing falls through the cracks, and enable us to maintain our consistency. (Unlike Santa, we don't concern ourselves with the state of your naughtiness or niceness. That's your business.) We use lists for everything from Inbound Marketing Blueprinting to Website Process, and we appreciate the simplicity of emailing our super important lists to Basecamp. We love it so much, we're going to share the process with you! (You can thank us later.)

When you build a beautiful website, you don't want it to get cluttered by a bunch of ads. I've seen many websites where sponsor ads are thrown into banner areas or side bars without any thought for design and usability.

But I am here to tell you that Dropbox is NOT one of those things to be scared of.

I only bring it up because I find that many people still feel some reluctance to use shared folders that we set up for them in Dropbox. At SpinWeb, we love it for many reasons and once you use it, you'll understand why it is so convenient and secure.

Because we've sung the praises of Dropbox many times in the past, I will put these links here to help give you another friendly nudge, just in case you're still nervous about using it.

Do you have the option to work from home or go to the office? If you're like me and you do have that option, you know how amazing it can be to have that kind of flexibility.

For the most part, I prefer to go into the office. It gets me out of the house and I like interacting with my co-workers face to face. Some of my co-workers are the opposite and would prefer to stay home. And this is fine too! Here's how I choose when to work at home and when to go into the office:

NEAT = Non-exercise activity thermogenesis.

A good project manager understands that a strong collaboration among team members is the key to completing any project. When everyone’s best ideas come together, the ideas build on each other, making every project stronger. Project managers need and deserve comprehensive tools that allow them to communicate with their team effortlessly. There are a lot of software platforms out there that are designed to do this, but hands-down the most effective platform I've found is Basecamp.

One of the great things about Basecamp is its versatility. Project managers are able to connect, maintain and follow up on projects as they're underway. Even after a project has been completed, you can still access and maintain the archives, depending on your choice of storage. From being the company water cooler to app building, it's incredibly effective at getting, and keeping, everyone involved and on the same page. Think of it as an interactive, digital version of what goes on in a project manager’s brain.

Stress is a commonplace emotion at work. According to the American Institute of Stress, 80 percent of us are stressed when at work. Although there are many reasons for this stress, the #1 reason is the amount of workload, followed by personality clashes or personnel issues. Today is National Stress Day, the day after taxes are due, so we wanted to give you some tips on how to deal with stress at work.

Now we at SpinWeb may not be experiencing stress from our co-workers because we're all one big happy family (right, guys?) and we certainly don't have all of the issues described below. But even in a great work environment and surrounded by a strong team, I feel the pressure from time to time. Coping with that stress and managing it well is the best way to live -- and not go insane. Here are a few tips to keep your stress levels low.